Author's Note

Announcement: you'll be able to click on underlined names of vehicles to see what they look like from here on out. But only vehicles, otherwise everything else stays the same.

P.S. ignore the obvious name changes between the story and the art provided for the equipment and vehicles.

Chapter 12: royal meetings, and unexpected events

Location: Equestria, approaching Canterlot

Time: 3 days after operation burning desire

Perspective: princess Celestia, princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle, prince Shining Armor, princess Cadance, Thorax, B-5 pilots, many others

Twilight sat staring at Ponyville through a window on the train car, the aftermath of the fire still very much visible, and why wouldn't it be, the place where the Everfree once stood was not just a sea of ash and tree corpses. Though, in the back of Twilight's mind, she felt like this was karma for ignoring Chrysalis's pleas for help for all those years, she knew that if they would have helped her in someway the attack on Canterlot and Thorax's rebellion most likely wouldn't have happened. Things would be more peaceful.

Now, the changeling's that are still loyal to Chrysalis that aren't in any prison in Equestria, are now under the protection of what seems to be an unstoppable new kingdom. 'In name of Celestia, we really bucked up this one' thought Twilight.

"Twilight, is something bothering you?" Asked Celestia, who was looking at Twilight with a worried expression.

"oh...nothing princess, I'm just thinking about the events that led to this...attack" said Twilight, still looking towards the charred and burnt remains of the Everfree.

After hearing Twilight's statement, Celestia gave a slight smile and said "well, I hope you and I could find a way to solve this problem when we arrive at Canterlot, because word of this attack has already gotten out to every kingdom in Equestria."

"So we can't keep this within the empire anymore?" Asked Twilight, giving Celestia a worried look.

"I'm afraid we can't anymore Twilight, isn't that correct Cadance" answered Celestia looking while shifting her head towards Cadance's direction, Cadance noticed this rather quickly.

"Y-yes auntie, it would be rather foolish to think we could keep the existence of an entirely new species under closed doors, especially since this species actions...have been rather extre-" though before Cadance could finish her sentence, Luna interrupted her by saying "their actions have been ones in response of injustice, if we only helped the changeling's when they first asked for it, none of this would have happened."

"What are you saying sister?" Asked Celestia.

"What I'm saying is...this situation with the changeling's still under Chrysalis command being protected by the United States, could have been avoided or lessened...if you answered Chrysalis's pleas for help" answered Luna, which made Celestia's eyes widen.

"Oh no" whispered Shining, being grateful that they requested a private train car.

"Are you saying that I had a role in creating this problem, sister" asked Celestia in a displeased tone.

"Yes sister, I see now that you have just as much blame as I do, considering you ignored a cry for help from another pony" answered Luna.

"I'm failing to see how this has anything to do with the United States?" Said Celestia with a slight growl.

"Because the attack on Canterlot, the raid of the Baltimare prison, and the burning of the Everfree Forest most likely wouldn't have happened if you answered their call for help" said Luna with a growl of her own.

"And you're actions didn't play a part in those tragedies, the deaths sustained weren't a cause of your actions as well?" Asked Celestia.

"I am well aware of my actions sister, and I see the error of my ways with my treatment of Chrysalis and her changeling's, as well as how I approached the new creatures and their kingdom. Though, as of right I'm questioning the reasoning you had to ignore the pleas for help from Chrysalis when she called for it" exclaimed Luna, raising her voice.

Celestia looked at Luna with a look of pure shock, which than morphed into an offended expression once she was able to recover from her shock induced trance, she than said "how dare you."

Arriving at Canterlot, 23 minutes later

"Are you two done yet? Because you two are acting like little filly's!" screamed a rather annoyed Cadance.

"But she started it!" Screamed both Celestia and Luna.

"Well I don't care, now stop arguing because we have a meeting to attend!" answered Cadance, trying to keep her calm.

"Fine than" answered Luna and Celestia, getting up from their seats.

Not long after the five royals exited the train car, upon exiting they were met with more than 40 royal guards standing at attention. The reasoning for such a high number of royal guard was because of recent events that unfolded at Ponyville and Baltimare, as well as the high number of changeling's at the palace.

Celestia herself noticed the abundance of royal guard's and asked "Excuse me, but what is the meaning of having so many royal guard's be our escort?"

In response to her question, a slightly taller royal guards who wore dark red armor that had light red lines highlight the edges of the armor, Celestia than recognized him as a general. "Hello princess, I'm sorry for such a large escort but the recent events have put many ponies on edge, so Canterlot has had an increase in royal guard security over the past 3 days" said the general.

"I see, let us carry on towards the palace than" said Celestia, who to a certain extent didn't like the idea of having a larger royal guard presence in Canterlot, though she couldn't argue with the reasoning behind doing so, 'not like it would make a difference' she thought.

Soon the five royals and 40 guard escort started walking towards Canterlot at a brisk pace, as they continued Luna noticed many noble look towards her direction with worried expressions before going on with their daily business, but she couldn't look at any of them without thinking about what she said too Frederick about his father and his nations leaders. She knew that everypony heard about what happened during the meeting with the new creatures, they knew about how she insulted them and their leaders, they even knew about how Frederick reacted towards Luna's insults and how he planted his fist in her muzzle, as well as giving her the worst black eye of her life so far, though the by now it has already wore off and she was back to her normal physical self.

After Celestia released every single peace of information she had, or what little information she had on the creatures, everypony in Equestria and the crystal empire was on edge due to the capabilities these new creatures had, having the ability to break the sound barrier and travel 25 times the speed of sound was unbelievable to them, especially since nothing in Equestria could do such a thing, even with the most powerful magic available. What also startled everypony was the immunity to all magic, even alicorn magic was ineffective against these creatures which only made the fear of everypony worse.

As they continued walking towards the castle, Twilight saw a small group of extremely colourful ponies, though as she got closer and closer the identities of the colourful ponies became apparent, because they weren't ponies at all, they were changeling's. Not long after Twilight spotted Thorax on the outskirts of the group, so she darted towards him at the speed of a crackhead who just spotted a person on the side of the street with gray hoodie.

"Hey Thorax, how's it been!" said Twilight, hugging Thorax vigorously.

"oh hi Twilight...h-h-how ha-have you be-been? Please le-le-let me go, I ca-can't breathe" said Thorax while being suffocated by Twilight's hug.

"Oh, I'm sorry Thorax, please forgive me" said Twilight, realizing the extreme power of the hug she gave him.

"it's..*breathing*..fine Twilight,..*breathing*..you were only trying..*breathing*..to be nice" said Thorax, recovering from Twilight's hug.

Not long after Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor closed the distance between themselves and the small ocean of reformed changeling's. Once in sufficient talking distance, Celestia addresses Thorax in her normal princess like tone, "hello Thorax, how has life treated you?"

"well, she just tried to suffocate me not to long ago" said Thorax, making Twilight blush slightly. Though not long after Twilight remembered a certain somepony she met at her coronation a year and a half ago, walking up to Celestia Twilight asked "excuse me Celestia, but is lieutenant Flash Sentry here as well?" Asked Twilight with a slight smile, and slightly brighter blush.

Celestia could see the reasoning for Twilight question from a million miles away, so she decided to play into Twilight's game, "well Twilight, I think he may be in Baltimare tending to the injured guard's, but he might be called to come and protect Canterlot soon."

"Who's this Flash Sentry you speak of Twilight?" Asked Thorax.

"Oh just a stallion Twilight became fond of when she met him at her coronation" said Celestia, nudging Twilight ever so subtly making her blush harder.

"Can we just get to the meetings already?" said Twilight, still heavily blushing.

"Yes sister, we have much to talk about today, so stop pestering Twilight about her colt-friend" said Luna, walking past Celestia with a proud expression.

Canterlot war room, 36 minutes later

"But why would they protect Chrysalis?" Asked a very confused Thorax.

"Well this kingdom considers Chrysalis and any changeling's under her command to be refugees" answered Luna.

"But...why, don't they know they she invaded Canterlot and ruined Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding?" Asked Thorax.

"Yes they are aware, but don't seem too care. According to a royal guard who spoke with one of the United State's soldiers, they apparently pass the attack of as one of desperation" answered Luna.

"well, since you're now filled in with all the information we have available, we're now going to discuss how we can deal with this problem, because they still have hundreds of guard's ponies in their custody" said Celestia, her face dawning a more serious look.

"But how princess? We have no viable way of fighting them. They're immune to magic, have advanced technology, and better tactics" said Thorax.

"Who says we're going to fight them. I'm well aware that Equestria is outmatched and out numbered, so I've been thinking of ways to deal with this problem peacefully so we can get our ponies out of their custody" said Celestia.

"how do you plan on doing that princess?" Asked Thorax.

"Easy, gold. The empire with the highest abundance of gold is Equestria, and no kingdom can resist it alluring value. I'm going to use it to bargain for the ponies, as well as a way of persuading them in giving us some of their technology" answered Celestia.

B-5 pilots perspective

Unbeknownst to Celestia and the rest of Canterlot, a speeding shadow watching over them at the height of 14.5 miles (23,335 meters, or 76,560 feet) in the sky while circling at Mach 5 (3,836 miles an hour, or 6,174 kilometers an hour), holding the power to obliterate Canterlot with the single press of a button. This shadow being the Lockheed Martin's B-5 Black Wraith supersonic heavy bomber, the B-5 being one of the the most used bombers against H.A.T (humans against technology) terrorist group, being second only to Russia's very own supersonic fighter bomber, the Sukhoi Su-54-4 pencil being the most used against H.A.T, though both Su-54-4 and B-5 were both used in joint operation against H.A.T with amazing results.

"Michael, I'm picking up a conversation between one of the princesses and her subordinates!" said the co-pilot, who was currently listening in on the meeting in the palaces war room.

"wait, really Trevor? Did you press record already?" Asked Michael, who was currently piloting the aircraft.

"It's been on record you nitwit!" said Trevor, who followed up with "now quiet, I'm listening."

[long range recorder] "Who says we're going to fight them. I'm well aware that Equestria is outmatched and outnumbered, so I've been thinking of ways to deal with this problem peacefully so we can get our ponies out of their custody"

[long range recorder] "how do you plan on doing that princess?"

[long range recorder] "Easy, gold. The empire with the highest abundance of gold is Equestria, and no kingdom can resist it's alluring value. I'm going to use it to bargain for the ponies, as well as a way of persuading them in giving us some their technology"

"Well, well, well, looks like the princess thinks she can bargain gold for our tech and prisoners, ha! She must take us for some kind of gullible fucks!" said Trevor.

"Hey, aren't the guys at the encampment releasing the prisoners today? What's going to happen when she finds them?" Asked Michael.

"I have no idea, she's going to lose her mind when she finds out about Fort Knox" said Trevor, who followed up with "now let's get back home, we've got all the Intel we need."

Location: Equestria, Baltimare forest coast

Time: 3 days after operation burning desire

Perspective: gunnery sergeant Nathan Reeds, lieutenant Tristan Summers, Rainbow Dash, many others

Nathan was walking out of his command tent holding a clipboard with the names of everypony in his custody, though he didn't plan on keeping said ponies in his custody for long.

"Hey Tristan, do we have permission from the Pentagon to release the prisoners yet?" Asked Nathan who was currently walking towards Tristan, waving his clipboard at some large cages that were holding the prisoners from the beach massacre.

"well you know how those guys are, they have the best communication technology yet can't give a simple 'yes or no' to a question within 15 minutes" answered Tristan sitting in a chair that had its back perched up against one of the many Terrier Heavy Armoured Personnel Carriers, he was using one of the more sophisticated Communications devices to keep in touch with the Pentagon, the device itself was one you'd find in attack satellites like "Stellar legends" or "Tungsten Fury."

"so, we're going to have to wait another 15 minutes for an answer to question my 5 year old nephew can answer in 15 seconds?" said Nathan in the most unamused tone an 22 year old could make.

"Yay, basical-" though before Tristan could even think about finishing his sentence, a sudden beeping came from the device Tristan was using to communicate with the Pentagon signaling there was an incoming transmission, soon he started walking towards it and said "huh, guess I was wrong." Once Tristan was was upon the device, he pressed the button allowing the transmission to play.

[communications device] "You're clear to initiate order '3XR prisoner no more', the prisoners aren't of any use, so you're clear to release them back into the wild. God speed."

Not long after, Tristan pressed the button a second time because their usually isn't a response to these kinds of orders, you usually just commence with doing said orders.

Tristan than looked towards Nathan and said "well you heard em Nathan, let's get this show on the road." Tristan than started walking towards the command tent, once inside he darted towards a table that had his and Nathan's fire arms, as well as mega phone perched on its side, the fire arms themselves were Tristans H&K XM9 battle rifle and Nathan's HC-BAR36c battle rifle. Once Tristan picked up all 3 objects, he inspected them and cleaned any dust or dirt of them, despite the fact there was almost nothing on them.

As Tristan was getting whatever he needed from the command tent, Nathan grabbed his radio and spoke through it, "I need any available personal to start rounding up the ponies and bring them to the front of the encampment, over." After giving the orders, Nathan started walking towards the train car sized cages and saw Marine and Army troops rounding up the ponies like he ordered.

As Nathan continued walking he felt a familiar hand grab his right shoulder, turning around he saw it was Tristan with two rifles slung around himself while holding up a mega phone toward Nathan saying "hey man, I think you've forgotten something, wouldn't want you loosen your voice now." Sometimes when Nathan would look at his best friend, he would sometimes notice how truly gorgeous Tristan was, his blonde hair with black strands at the start, light blue eyes, and freckles fit totally well with his light colored skin seemed to complement each other extremely well.

"oh, thanks man" said Nathan with a genuinely happy demeanor, which confused Tristan slightly, though he didn't think much of it. Nathan and Tristan continued too watch as the Marine and Army troops rounded up ponies and gathered them in a large circle in front of the encampment. The ponies themselves still wore their armor, though for the very few Pegasus that had survived the massacre wings were tied down with with anything the troops could find, so it would be duct tape.

But there was one Pegasus that was a tad bit difficult to deal with, that one would be a light blue colored Peguses with a rainbow main, that one in particular kept trying to hit the Marines that held her in the stomach, chest, and face but kept failing due to the body armor they wore.

"hey, stop that! Let me go! You'll pay for this!" Screamed the Peguses, getting more agitated as the Marines continued carrying her to her destination. The Marines holding her were themselves becoming more and more agitated, so much so one said in frustration "ahhh, stop fucking fighting me or I'll cut your fucking wings off and hang them on my wall!"

Upon hearing this the Peguses with the rainbow main stopped fighting the Marine, though her eyes started watering as if she was going to start crying, the Marine noticed this and his heart sunk, feeling a tinge of guilt he said "hey now, I didn't mean that, I only said it to get you too stop, I'm not going to hurt you." The Marines words seemed to calm her down and make her stop struggling, which made it much easier to do his job and put with the group of ponies.

Rainbow Dash/ponies perspective

Not long after all the ponies were in a group surrounded by Marines and Army troops, wondering what atrocities would meet them, though instead of a firing team they saw two men they recognized walk towards them, one brandishing a mega phone. After a couple moments the ponies saw one of the two men make a hand gesture to several other man who just seemed to nod in agreement, though to the ponies dismay the men pulled out large knifes half the size of the spears the royal guard use.

After seeing this, several mares started screaming at the thought of being killed, though the first ponies too be approached by the men were all Peguses.

"Okay little guy, don't move I'm not going to hurt you" said a Marine holding a knife while slowly approaching the Peguses, to which the Peguses responds by slowly stepping backwards and saying "bu-but your going hurt me with that small sword." As the Peguses continued backwards, she fell over and ended up on her back, giving the Marine time too hold her down and bring his knife towards her wings, as she saw this she screamed "no, no please don't cut off my wings!"

Though as she continued screaming and struggling she didn't feel any type of pain, instead feeling her wings become less restrained, "okay, the deed is done, you can start spreading your wings" said the Marine, petting the Peguses on the head.

Rainbow Dash and everypony were in udder shock, they thought they were about to bare witness to the creatures cutting of the wings of an innocent mare, instead they cut the restraints that kept her wings unable to spread. Not long after Rainbow approach the man who still had the knife in his hand, he than took notice of this and said "hello little one, would you like me to take of those restraints?"

"ye-yes please" said Rainbow Dash, who was still slowly approaching the Marine. Not long after Rainbow Dash felt herself being picked up, but instead of struggling she let herself and before she knew it, her wings were free from their restraints.

As more and more Peguses saw what the Marines and Army troops were doing, they allowed themselves to be approached and carried by them, and in 20 or so minutes all the Peguses were free from their restraints. Though none of them dared to try and fly away, due to fear of being killed, though that wouldn't last for long.

"Okay, listen up" said Nathan through the mega phone, looking over the large crowd of ponies looking in his direction with fear in their eyes, he than said "you can leave now."

"What?" said a pony in crowd.

"You're allowed to go home now, you're no longer our prisoners anymore" said Nathan.

"wait, really?" said another pony.

"basically" answered Nathan.

After the ponies realized the genuineness of Nathan's words, their faces started to light up with almost cartoonish smiles, though instead of looking creepy, they instead looked rather adorable. Like puppies. Not long after ponies started walking away into the forest towards Baltimare, Ponyville, or Appleloosa.

Though there was plethora was ponies still on the beach, one of them being Rainbow Dash herself. Those who stayed had suspicious looks plastered all over their faces, all of them being royal guard's who were of a high ranking.

"Is there a catch?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"no you can go home, we won't hurt you unless you try and hurt us" answered Nathan.

Those ponies who decided to not leave now started slowly backing into the woods while staring straight at the encampment, making their distrust of the Marines very clear. At least that would be the case if those same ponies booked it when they reached the treeline.

United States military perspective

"Well, I guess that's the end of that. What now?" asked one of the Army troops.

"Well, we're going to pack up and get back to the carriers" answered Nathan, which made many of the troops around him stare in confusion.

"we're leaving? Aren't their still changeling's in Equestrian custody?" asked a rather confused Marine.

"Who says we're leaving...we're just relocating" said Tristan.

"Where?" Asked another Marine.

"You'll see" said Nathan devious smile.

2 hours and 43 minutes later

It's been 43 minutes since the last BSC Athlit dropped of the last lf the Marines and Army troops on the various carriers in the area. The some of which were the 5 Eagle Claw-class carriers which were the first to arrive, 3 CVX-100 super carriers, 3 Siege-class amphibious assault carriers, 2 Cymrea-class Fleet-drone carriers which were now holding all the Army troops and their equipment, and last but not least the 1 Oceana-class battlecarrier, both the Cymrea-class and Oceana-class came back from dropping off the changeling's in the United States the first day after operation 'burning desire.'

Assigned to protect the carriers were the 2 Shogun-class superdreadnoughts, 3 Legion-class battleships, 1 Centurion-class battlecruiser, and the 2 Phalanx-class battlecruiser's that came back from escorting the Oceana and Cymrea class ships.

"So we're literally going to anchoring our fleet in the in front of a whole city?" Asked Tristan.

"yep, that's basically it" answered Nathan.

"sir, I'm not understanding the reasoning for anchoring our fleet in front of a major populated area" asked a Ghost special operations field operator holding a VHS-2 battle rifle. The Ghosts special operations unit are themselves heavily shrouded in mystery in terms of information, other than the look of the their exo-suit's a large portion of the federal government along with the general public have no idea what technology they possess, not even the United States most valuable allies know about their technology.

"Well it's simple, there's two reasons for us too anchor our fleet in front of a highly populated area. The first one being intimidation, imagine their reactions when they view naval ships 5 times the size of theirs, the second reason for us to anchor our fleet is to distract the ponies from the troops secretly deploying all over Equestria" answered Nathan, who pulled out his radio and said "now let's move."